Images such as postal indicia have been printed by postage meters to evidence that the appropriate postage has been affixed to the mailpiece. A typical postal indicia includes fixed elements such as city name, state, a graphic, meter serial number, etc., and variable information such as date, postage amount, an encrypted number, etc. Postal indicia have been printed by flat bed printers and rotary printers without encryption and ink jet printers with encryption. Improved photocopying, printing and scanning equipment have made it easier to commit fraud by copying postal indicia.
Currently, ticketing companies are giving purchasers the option of printing their electronic tickets at home, using ordinary paper, a personal computer printer, and an Internet connection. One of the problems in allowing people to print tickets at home is how to ensure that the tickets are not counterfeited. One of the solutions suggested to solve the foregoing problem is to print an encrypted bar code on the ticket. Unfortunately, a printed ticket on ordinary paper with an encrypted bar code can be photocopied, and the seller of the ticket will be unable to distinguish between the original, genuine ticket and the photocopied ticket.